The last few weeks have passed quickly at Spring Brook Upper. Last week Mrs Thorpe and I went to the launch of the new Whole School and College Approach to Emotional Health and Mental Wellbeing in Oldham. This was music to our ears and we are developing a working party in order to assess where our school is at in supporting young minds through tough times; this assessment tool will be the driver for change over the next academic year and in years to come. The framework has eight principles:

• Management and leadership
• School ethos and environment
• Curriculum, teaching and learning
• Student voice
• Staff development, health and wellbeing
• Identifying need and monitoring impact
• Working with parents and carers
• Co-ordinated support

The Year 9s went up to Anglezarke for the second time this week, this time to explore the open access land on top of the hills. They found a giant’s grave to have dinner on and a raft of cotton grass up there!

Benji, Mr Daly’s dog, made an appearance..

After dinner brought a scramble down a stream that turned into a succession of 3 waterfalls – all of which had to be played in thoroughly!!

Alex’s water slide looks amazing!

Adam was careful on the rocks..

This is always the highlight of my week, seeing our pupils developing their outdoor education skills which in turn also develop their social and emotional skills. They always look like they are having so much fun whilst learning which is what we strive to do here at Spring Brook Academy. I would love to join you all one Friday – what a great way to end the week!

Mrs Needham and SBA 2 went to Tandle Hills to adventure through this great country park..

Look at Jameel and Connor’s den building and climbing skills – Forest School springs to mind..

Mrs Walters and Miss Headland have had a great week..

What a week! Mark has returned full of talk about his trip to Disney. The boys have worked really hard and have completed a great deal of work. In English they have been looking at jokes and limericks, having fits of the giggles as we’ve worked..

On Friday the Nurture Group had a visit from Oscar the pug for an hour and I had a lovely quiet night as he was shattered afterwards! Wayne wanted him to stay all day..

The boys had a free choice of craft lesson: Wayne made a picture frame for his Mum and James traced a car to colour. In food tech. the boys made butterfly cakes with fresh cream, these were made as a group activity to strengthen relationships. Wayne weighed and mixed the butter and sugar..

..while Mark whisked the eggs..

.. and James weighed the flour..

The boys followed the recipe independently and cleaned up all together..

In Humanities the boys made models of bedroom furniture and placed these onto a plan of a room..

In Maths they have worked on finding percentages of a number, while in English we have looked at listening skills. In the class craft lesson we made puppets..

The boys also made chicken salsa wraps..

..which they ate as soon as they were ready!

Lewis went out to Dovestones with a group of pupils and staff and had an amazing day. Well done boys and thank you for another great week.

SBA 1 have had a great week in PE, look at Leon and Ben on the trampoline..

A mixed group of Key Stage 3 went out with Mr Allman and Mr Pryce to explore Dovestones..

Mrs Needham and Miss Brown with Mr Clough and Mr Roscoe went to visit a local farm where they picked the pets that they would like for school..

Don’t worry, Mr Quinn – they didn’t return with them!!!

SBA2 and the teaching staff in the class enjoyed running around the school field drenching each other in water to cool down from the temperature of the day. After a walk to Tesco and a nice ice lolly, the boys enjoyed throwing water at all of the teachers and spending time bonding with each other. Using both super soaker water pumps and water buckets, I think the teaching staff definitely came off worst..

The quote I will leave you with is from the launch of the Mental Health Framework in Schools. It put everything into context for me and really made me think about how we nurture the needs of our young people – “No health without mental health.” Alan Higgins

As you can see from this week’s photos, the focus at school is currently around engagement and relationship building with our pupils. This week has been emotional as some of our Key Stage 4 pupils have finished their exams and are getting ready for the next chapter in their learning journey. All, that is, except Jordan who really doesn’t want to leave. By the time our students reach Year 11 they realise how much support school has given them over the years – some of them have been with us since primary school. Over the next few weeks see Mrs Tootill’s blog for news on for Key Stage 4 and 5. We wish all of our Year 11 boys the very best whichever path you decide to follow. You will always be part of our Spring Brook family.

Enjoy the weekend and if you are off to Glastonbury, enjoy the mud!

Miss Rodgers
Head of Site

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